Blood and Roses
by Mint Pearl Voice
Summary: Powerful new vampire Katniss could be the deciding factor in a battle between two rival vampire factions- but which side will she choose? AU, probably Katniss/Peeta, Gale/Madge, Cato/Clove, Thresh/Rue. T for violence and swearing.


There were six vampires living on the street filled with tidy little brownstones, and Johanna knew them as well as she knew herself.

Rue was the one who sang for her supper, leaving her victims with a half-remembered lullaby in lieu of payment. She closed her eyes when she drank because, although she liked the taste of blood, she didn't like to think about where it came from.

Finnick was the playboy, stalking his meals in dimly lit nightclubs. They were tall, blonde, leggy- and completely interchangeable. It was almost funny, considering how devoted he was to his mate- sun-scorched, batty Annie, who hadn't left her home since Roosevelt was president.

Haymitch was the alcoholic, refusing to drink from anyone who wasn't either high on their minds or finishing their fourth glass of tequila. Annie shook her head at him, Peeta threatened to cut off his arms- but Johanna, nursing a century-old taste for heroin and morphine, was always willing to spike his O-negative with a bottle of beer.

Johanna herself was the morbid one, collecting badly-written vampire romance novels and pairs of dark sunglasses. She'd flash her fangs in public, chat up a police officer and drain his blood into a shot glass- anything for the thrill.

And Peeta?

Peeta was the sane one, at least by vampire standards. He drank from homeless people, always careful to watch out for passerby as he slipped a twenty-dollar bill into the pocket of his meal. He painted, cooked, read, and in general, acted like they were a normal, human family, rather than an alliance of fucked-up vampiric misfits thrown together by chance.

It was Peeta's turn to bring home takeout that night. Johanna shoved him outside just after sunset, opening the door only halfway to keep out the cold winter air. "Bring home a Rent-a-cop," she said. "Preferably a drunk one."

Five hours later, Peeta was nowhere in sight; and, although there was no way she'd ever admit it, Johanna was actually starting to worry about him.

Rue climbed up and down the bookcases, scaling their shelves with the same absent anxiety as if she was pacing the floor. "Do you think he'll come back?"

"No," Johanna said flatly, looking up from a black-and-white video game in which blocky soldiers shot equally blocky zombies in their blocky, black-and-white heads. "Now shut up."

As Rue skittered across the celing, upside-down and agitated, Johanna rested her head in her hands and sighed. Peeta and Rue were Haymitch's and Annie's vampiric progeny respectively, damn it, not hers- so why did she always get stuck playing babysitter?

Johanna was more than ready to rip out a throat or two, and her growling stomach and light head weren't helping. If she didn't get someone to drink from soon, she'd snap and start feeding off Rue- and that, Johanna knew , would not go down well.

Then Peeta knocked.

Johanna pulled it open, flinching as a droplet of sleet hit her face. "Well?"

The blonde tossed a bag of blood into her expectant fingers.

She had already downed most of its contents before the realization hit her. This blood wasn't Rent-A-Cop. It wasn't Drug Dealer. It wasn't even Slightly Tipsy Restaurant Critic. No, this blood was Peeta's favorite vintage, Typical Underfed Homeless Person.

"Sorry, Johanna," he said, sensing her irritation. "Help me drag these in, will you?"

Ah. That explained it. Johanna's feral scowl transformed into a grin- he'd drained the blood from some useless hobo and brought home a nice fat stoner for her to enjoy. She helped Peeta and Rue drag two unconscious humans inside, then closed the door behind them.

And stopped.

And stared.

The two humans on the carpet were relatively young- one, with messy dark hair and olive skin, looked around sixteen or seventeen, while the other, who was blonder and paler, seemed to be the same age as Rue. It wasn't their age that caught Johanna's attention, though. It was their smell. Smoke, cat, unwashed blanket, cheap shampoo and even cheaper laundry detergent… normal human girl. Underneath it, however, lurked traces of vampire venom, a swirling mass of colorful scents that popped like a firework in her nose's eye. The two girls were human, but they wouldn't stay human for long.

That firework wasn't the only thing that was about to explode.

"What," Johanna said, pointing to the larger of the two humans, "is that?"

"She's not a that," Peeta shot back. "Her name is Katniss Everdeen."

Rue knelt beside the girl, tracing the fall of her hair with tiny, reverent fingers. "She's beautiful."

Peeta nodded, sinking onto the edge of a couch. "Isn't she? The little blonde one is her sister, Primrose Everdeen. Prim. By the way, Rue, would you mind getting the first aid kit?"

"The first aid kit? Why-" That was when her gaze fell upon the heavily bleeding scratch on Peeta's leg, starting at his ankle and ending just below his knee. "…oh. That's gotta hurt. No problem!"

You have got to be kidding me filled Johanna's mind, crowding out all other thoughts as it bounced from one side of her skull to the other. You have seriously got to be kidding me.

Johanna knew what kind of person Peeta was. He was dependable, rational, logical, helpful. Annoyingly so, in fact. He didn't do things lke this.

"You have five minutes to explain yourself."She swallowed the rest of the blood to steady herself. It didn't work. "Starting… four minutes ago. Go."

He'd been wandering New York's snowcoated streets, looking for someone to feed on, when he noticed a dark-haired girl in a frayed burnout sweater, ripped jeans and beat-up sneakers, her hands trembling as she struggled to balance a cup of steaming soup. Despite her wary expression, she didn't spot the curb threatening to trip her up; instead, she lost her balance and fell, soup splashing out of the Styrofoam cup as it tumbled from her hands. Peeta watched her for a few seconds before realizing that she was too weak to get up on her own.

Instinct drove him to a small bakery on the corner of a side street, where he bought two loaves of bread and wrapped them in his coat. The girl was still there when he returned: slumped sideways into the snow, her cheeks pink from the cold, snowflakes collecting on her long, dark eyelashes. Peeta ran over to her, boots crunching footprints in the snow, and was relieved to note that her heart was still beating. He helped her sit up and draped his coat over her shoulders.

"What… what the-"

All vampires could hypnotize humans; for this half-conscious, unsuspecting girl, one glance was all it took.

"Here." He pressed the bread into her hands. "Eat."

She ate half a loaf before stopping and noticing him. Thanks to the hypnosis, she didn't look scared, just mildly curious. "Who are you?"

"Peeta," he said. "Peeta Mellark."

She nodded. "Katniss Everdeen- and thanks for the bread."

He'd half-carried her to a nearby Starbucks, where she told him her life story between sips of hot tea. Katniss was seventeen years old; her father had died six months ago, stabbed on the subway by an unidentified street person, and her mother, a nurse, had turned unresponsive from grief shortly afterwards. Although Katniss worked round-the-clock shifts at a local diner, it wasn't enough; two weeks ago, their heat had been turned off. One week ago, her twelve-year-old sister, Primrose, had come home with a sniffle, which turned into full-blown swine flu. And fifteen minutes ago, Katniss had opened the fridge, only to find that it was completely empty.

"Thank you for everything, Peeta, but I'd better be going. I told Prim I'd be right back, and- wait, why are you following me?"

"Because I want to help. I'll find a hotel for you to stay until you can get the heat turned back on."

"But-"

"Don't worry. I'll pay for it." He laced his words with an extra dose of hypnosis; after a few moments, her frown softened, and she smiled.

"Okay."

Johanna folded her arms. "Which still doesn't explain how you ended up covered in blood."

Peeta gave her a weak smile, obviously uncomfortable. "I was just getting to that."

"And?"

He took a deep breath. "Coriolanus Snow is back in town."

Rue made a high-pitched, whimpery noise, the aural equivalent of a terrified shudder. The first-aid kit dropped from her hands.

"Go on," Johanna said grimly. "Tell me more."

"I ran into two of his minions, the big muscle-y one and the blonde girl. Cato and… Clover? I don't think they even knew I was there- they just wanted to hunt."

"Clove." Rue had knelt beside the couch, and her voice was barely audible; Johanna could smell her fear, like rotting apples. An embarrassing surge of quasi-maternal pity overtook her. She bent down to scoop up the younger vampire, setting her on her lap.

"We're just exiting the building when I see Katniss go down with a knife in her forehead. Prim screams, and Cato steps from the darkness, picking her up by the back of her shirt. 'Wonderful,' he says, chuckling. 'A midnight snack.' He starts drinking, and I can tell he's going to drain her dry, because she loses consciousness after barely a second.

'Prim!' Katniss screams, and launches herself at him- but Clove's faster, and leaps at Katniss, knocking her to the ground. I charge Cato, he drops Prim, and we fight for a few seconds- that's how I got this." He indicated the scratch on his leg, which was already beginning to heal. "Cato's got me in a headlock, but suddenly an enormous shadowy figure swoops from the shadows.

'Cato!' Clove screeches, flailing against an unseen hand. 'Help me-' and then she's gone.

With a cry of rage, Cato runs after her. I drag myself to my feet and hurry towards Katniss. She's covered in blood- it's all I can do not to lap it up- and her heartbeat is so faint, I can barely hear it. Her sister's isn't much better. I can tell that neither of them have more than a few minutes left to live. So… I decide to do what I can."

Johanna looked at the dark- haired figure sprawled in an armchair. Even as the vampire poison oozed through her veins, she was silent, her arms locked around the whimpering Primrose in a protective hold.

"I just hope I don't get you in trouble," Peeta said. "I mean, Coin isn't going to be happy about this."

"Happy? When is she ever?" Johanna deadpanned, faking nonchalance, and felt Rue giggle, albeit with another waft of rotting apples accompanying it. The leader of the rogue vampires could be notoriously strict.

Coin or no Coin, though, Johanna couldn't help wondering how this was going to play out.

Because Peeta Mellark was hopelessly in love with Katniss Everdeen.  
And when Katniss woke up, she was going to be _pissed._


End file.
